


Akuma Victims’ Club

by wolfgirlfox



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: background characters get a fic of their own, even smaller amount of Love Square, feel-good romp with a side of psychological damage, small amount of DJ Wifi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-24 19:23:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9781625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfgirlfox/pseuds/wolfgirlfox
Summary: “We’re starting a little group, Nino and I.” She handed him a flyer, cut into the shape of a big white butterfly. Akuma Victims’ Club: Victims, not Villains. “We thought you might be interested.”





	1. Chapter 1

# Chapter One: Ivan

Alya and Nino may have founded the club but, really, it began with Ivan.

It happened only a week after Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated Lady Wifi. Alya watched the videos first with shock, then with horror as her villainous alter ego attempted to destroy her favorite heroes. She stomached the stares and whispers of her classmates, the glances she got from strangers on the street. She endured the questions from curious friends and reporters alike. But the videos were what wore her down.

What struck Alya was how _her_ Lady Wifi was. It was not only her body and her voice but her skills, her desire, her cadence and sense of humor. She understood every action of Lady Wifi’s, because she _was_ Lady Wifi. The thought that so much evil could exist inside her was too much for her to bear.

Nino saw all this, remembered all this. He went through the same thing after his own akuma experience, didn't he? He remembered how Alya had grilled him about it the next day, and a part of him—the deepest, darkest part of him that he now referred to as his Inner Bubbler—felt that perhaps she deserved it as a taste of her own medicine. But the other, larger part of him wanted to help her. More than that, he wanted her to help him: he wanted someone to talk to who understood what he had gone through. Still, he was not sure how to approach her. They had hung out before—his small crush on her best friend and their proximity in most of their classes had them socializing frequently—but it was a heavy subject to broach, especially so soon after the event.

He did not say anything until a week later, when he caught her crying in the hallway after school. She was holding a scrap of paper in her hand: a doodle that someone, probably Nathanael, had drawn of Ladybug sucker-punching Lady Wifi. When she saw Nino standing over her, Alya crumpled the piece of paper and threw it at him.

“Leave me alone, okay? I’m fine,” she spat, wrapping her arms around her legs. Nino sat down next to her.  
“I still can’t look at bubbles without having a mild panic attack,” he admitted. Alya cocked her head.  
“The Bubbler incident,” he reminded her. “It was horrible. I never really got a chance to get over it, with all the news reels and interviews and stuff.”  
Alya had the decency to look ashamed. “Yeah, sorry about that.”  
“It sucks, doesn’t it?” he sighed. Alya nodded. They were silent for a moment.   
“Look,” Nino said finally. “I know it’s hard, and you’re probably sick of talking about it, but… if you ever need to, I’m here. Okay?”  
Alya sniffled. Then smiled. “Okay.”  
Nino nodded. He stood, extending a hand to help her up. Alya took it. And that was it.

Still, it was not quite a club. Most of the time, they didn’t even meet in person. They just exchanged supportive texts, sent each other articles about Ladybug and Chat Noir saving the city yet again, offered a sympathetic ear when the other called to vent in the middle of the night.

That was until the day the television special came out.

They watched it live in Madame Bustier’s class. It was a special on Ladybug and Chat Noir, chronicling the heroes’ many feats. Including, of course, all of the akumas they had faced. Alya leaned over to squeeze Nino’s shoulder when the Bubbler showed up onscreen, and Nino glanced back at her when Lady Wifi made her debut. They watched in silence as the rest of the akuma villains paraded across the screen, culminating in Stoneheart, the original.   
“Stoneheart was the first of Paris’s villains, the catalyst of the ongoing battle between the crime-fighting duo and the mysterious Hawkmoth,” The narration explained over clips of Stoneheart’s rampage through the city. “It was later revealed that Hawkmoth was actually the mastermind behind the attack, using magic to transform student Ivan Bruel into the gruesome Stoneheart.”  
Kim snickered from behind them. “Gruesome.”  
“Shut up,” Ivan whispered.  
Nino turned back around, raising an eyebrow at Alya.  
 _Later_ , she mouthed. 

They found Ivan after school together, excusing themselves from their friends and approaching his locker, where he was roughly shoving books into his backpack.  
“What?” He asked gruffly. Alya smiled.  
“We’re starting a little group, Nino and I.” She handed him a flyer, cut into the shape of a big white butterfly. _Akuma Victims’ Club: Victims, not Villains_. “We thought you might be interested.”  



	2. Chapter Two: Kim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Kim rejected the idea before he even finished reading the butterfly-shaped flyer."

Kim rejected the idea before he even finished reading the butterfly-shaped flyer.

“I don’t need help,” he growled, balling up the piece of paper and tossing it back at Alya. Alya sighed.  
“Yes, I get it, you’re very tough. You don’t need anyone or anything. You’re a god amongst men.” She rolled her eyes at him, then pressed the paper back into his hand. “There’s no reason why you should go through this alone.”  
“I’m not going through anything,” he insisted.  
Alya groaned. “Fine. You know what? I don’t have time for this. Just remember this conversation when you have your mental breakdown.”  
He watched her stomp over to Marinette, and for a fleeting moment he considered calling her back and accepting her offer.

And then the moment passed, and he was alone. _Good_ , he thought. _That’s the way it should be_.

He busied himself at his locker for a bit, making it to class just before the bell rang. That was good too: the less time he spent in class, the less of a chance there would be of someone asking about Dark Cupid.  
Chloe turned away as soon as she saw him, cutting Sabrina off midsentence. She somehow believed it was his fault—or rather, Dark Cupid’s fault—that her autographed picture of Adrien got ruined. That was fine. Kim could not care less about how Chloe felt about him anymore. He was over her.

What he was worried about was how he felt about Chloe.

His crush on Chloe had been a lapse in judgement, he saw that now. She was beautiful, yes, but also selfish and superficial. She only cared about status and wealth, and she had brushed Kim off a million times even before she humiliated him on Valentine’s Day. He had had to learn his lesson the hard way, but he was no longer in love with Chloe. 

But it was more than that. It was not just that he did not love her. He hated her. Every time he saw her he felt his pulse quicken, felt his blood boiling. He could picture hurting her, or at least humiliating her like she had done to him, and he liked the idea a little too much.

_I am not Dark Cupid_ , he told himself.

So why did it feel like someone else, someone evil, was controlling his thoughts? Why did he feel like he was too dangerous to be around his friends, his family? Why did he not feel more remorse for what he had done when he was akumatized.

_I am not Dark Cupid._

Dark Cupid was a villain. He had strained friendships, relationships, marriages. He had turned Chat Noir against Ladybug. And yet, a part of Kim still felt justified whenever he looked at Chloe. She was rude, she was coldhearted. She needed to be put in her place.

_I am not Dark Cupid._

He could not be. He would isolate himself from everyone, everything, so that he could not hurt them. He would lock up his dark thoughts in the farthest reaches of his mind. He would get through this. Alone, the way it should be.

The bell rang, and the class emptied out into the hall.

“Kim?” Nino.  
“Hey man, are you okay?” Nino asked. Kim realized he was still sitting.  
“Fine,” he huffed, pushing himself up. Nino continued to watch him.  
“Alya said she talked to you before class,” Nino said. Kim ignored him. “You should come. We’re meeting today after school.”  
“For the last time, I don’t need your help,” he told Nino. Nino shrugged and left Kim in the classroom. Alone, again.

_You’re fine_ , Kim assured himself. _You’re stronger than they are. You can get through this. It’ll all go away on its own._

Chloe sneered at him as he left the classroom, flipping her blond ponytail in his face. Kim searched his bag for the flyer.

*** 

“I guess Kim’s not coming,” Alya sighed. She sat on top of a desk, looking down on Nino and Ivan. Nino rolled his eyes. Ivan looked away.  
“Okay then,” she told the boys. “Let’s begin.”

***

Kim showed up twenty minutes late to the meeting. He had talked himself into and out of going about a million times, and even standing in the doorway, he was not sure if it was the right move. He had worried that they would have finished already, but they were still in there chatting animatedly and laughing.

They stopped when they heard Kim clear his throat.

“Kim!” Nino exclaimed. “Come in, dude. See Alya, I told you he’d come.”  
Alya glared at Nino, then smiled at Kim. She shifted on the desk so he could sit next to her.  
“So, uh… what do you guys do here?” Kim asked awkwardly. He shouldn’t have come.  
“We talk. We listen. We share memes and news from the Ladyblog,” Alya told him. “It’s not like a big, formal thing. But it helps. Do you have anything you want to share?”  
Kim shook his head.  
“Do you have anything you want to ask?”  
He hesitated. “Do… do you guys ever still… get mad? Like Lady Wifi was at Ladybug, or Bubbler was at adults?”

The others looked at Kim strangely, completely silent. He really should not have come. He forced himself to laugh.  
“Never mind. That was a stupid question, I sh—”  
“I get mad at you,” Ivan admitted. He looked out the window, avoiding Kim’s eyes. “I still get mad at you, sometimes. And at Chloe. But that’s me, not Stoneheart.”  
Nino nodded. “I get that. You were mad right before you were akumatized, right? So that was still you. But everyone gets mad sometimes. How you respond, that’s what separates you from Dark Cupid, or whatever.”  
“You hurt Ivan,” Alya told Kim. “Stoneheart got revenge, but Ivan didn’t. There’s bound to be some resentment. I assume it’s the same for you with Dark Cupid.”  
Kim looked down at Ivan. “I’m sorry, man,” he mumbled. “It sucks feeling like this.”  
Ivan smiled.  
“I just hate this! And I hate Chloe!” Kim screamed in frustration, slamming his hands on the desk. Alya laughed.  
“Who doesn’t?” she asked. The others nodded in agreement, smirking a bit. “Look, you don't want to shoot her with a bow and arrow right?”  
Kim scoffed and shook his head.  
“Exactly. So you are not Dark Cupid. End of Discussion,” she said. “Now if you did want to, I can’t say I could really blame you, but…”  
The others started laughing, and Kim laughed with them.

_You are not Dark Cupid._

_You are not Dark Cupid._

_You are not Dark Cupid._

Maybe coming to the meeting was not such a bad idea after all.


	3. Chapter Three: Alix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alix, more than any other akuma victim, was alone.

Alix, more than any other akuma victim, was alone.

The day after any akuma attack was filled with video snippets, on-air discussions, and newspaper articles chronicling the event. Some had more coverage than others, usually due to availability of information: Lady Wifi, for instance had a lot since she had broadcasted the whole thing herself, while the Bubbler had very little due to all of Paris’s adults—including reporters and cameramen—disappearing that day.

But no one knew anything about Timebreaker. There was one short video taken by Alya Cesaire, mid-action: two Timebreakers fighting two Ladybugs, while Chat Noir and the frightened students did their best to wrap their heads around what they were seeing. Then one of the Timebreakers and one of the Ladybugs disappeared, and the crime-fighting duo took their leave. The entire video was less than three minutes long.

When asked about what happened, Ladybug had given few answers. Who was the akuma? Timebreaker. What did she do? She took energy from others to go back in time. Why was there no second Chat Noir? Timebreaker took his energy before we travelled back in time. What did Timebreaker want? I’m sorry, no further questions.

Alix wasn’t even sure what she had wanted. She knew she was angry because her pocket-watch had broken, but was that what the first Timebreaker was angry about, or only the second one? She couldn’t remember a thing. Any hazy recollections she might have had were lost in space and time. Her classmates, too, could not recall what happened. Alix knew they must have witnessed the first Timebreaker’s transformation, but they only remembered the second. Even Chat Noir had forgotten.

Only Ladybug knew. Knew, but probably did not understand. Only someone who had been akumatized before could possibly understand Alix’s emotions in the aftermath—rage, sadness, regret, fear. So the only person that knew could not understand, and the only people who could possibly understand would never know.

It made Alix feel more alone than she could possibly explain. So, she decided, she would not even try. Besides, it wasn’t like talking about it would make it go away.

So when Alya approached Alix the day after the whole Timebreaker thing, Alix did not give much thought to her proposal.

“We’re meeting today,” Alya told Alix, handing her the white flyer. “I think you should stop by.”  
Alix laughed. “Thanks, but I’m fine, really. I’ve got to run, I can’t be late again to Mendeleiev’s class.”

Throughout the day, Alix smiled at classmates, chatted with teachers. When she went home, she groaned good-naturedly when Jalil hugged her and dutifully answered her father’s questions about her day. She carried on she normally would, putting on a mask of pleasantry, and no one had any reason to believe that Alix Kubdel was doing less than perfect.

At night though, it was a different story.

For nights after the event, Alix could not sleep. She tossed and turned, trying to remember what had happened, to piece together what she had done. Ladybug said that she took Chat Noir’s energy, and so he did not go back in time with them. What did that mean? Was he unable to move? Was he dead? Did Alix kill a man and not even remember it? She devoted a wall of her room to “evidence,” bits and pieces of her friends’ recollections and images taken from Alya’s video. She’d stay up until dawn, willing her pitiful wall of information to transform into a coherent story. And then she’d lay in bed until her father “woke” her up, and she’d do the whole thing again the next day.

The day after Alya approached her, Nino found her on the stairs and asked her to reconsider coming to the next meeting. Alix smiled and thanked him but gave him the same answer she did Alya.

Two days after that, Ivan passed her a note in math class that consisted of the meeting flyer with her name and the words _come on_ , crudely written on top. Alix rolled her eyes and smiled kindly but did not respond. 

Three days after _that_ , her father found her in a ball on the floor, crying and watching Alya’s Timebreaker video at four-thirty in the morning. She did not go to school that day.

“You’re coming to the meeting.”

Alix closed her locker after school the next day to find Kim glaring down at her, arms folded over his chest. She tried her best to smile convincingly.

“Thanks, but I’m fine,” she replied.  
“It wasn’t a request.”

And with that, Kim lifted Alix and threw her over his shoulder, jogging down the hall while she beat his with small, angry fists.

“I told you I could get her to come,” said as they entered the room.  
Ivan grunted. “Coercion doesn’t count.”  
“I’ll take it,” Alya said. “Welcome to the club, Alix.”

Kim smirked as he set Alix down in a chair and went to go sit by the door. She was trapped.

“Fine,” she huffed. “I’ll stay. But I’m not a part of this.”  
“Fine,” Nino echoed, putting his hands up in surrender. “It looks like Aurore’s not joining us again, which I guess I understand. She doesn’t know us all that well. You want to start us off then, Alya?”   
Alya nodded, sitting up straight in her chair. “So last week Aurore was telling us about her nightmares when we left off. I was wondering if anyone else had any similar experiences”.   
Ivan nodded. Nino made a noncommittal gesture. Alix turned away from them.   
“I have this one recurring dream,” Kim admitted. “It didn’t happen, obviously. But it’s of Dark Cupid, chasing me, normal me, through the streets. And I keep running but he keeps flying faster and faster and… then I wake up. Really freaks me out.”

Alix turned at the sound of Kim’s voice. Kim, sharing his feelings? That sounded too weird to be true. And yet here he was, telling them about his nightmares like it was nothing.

“Alix?”  
“What?” she blurted. They were all staring at her.  
“Nino just asked if you ever had any dreams like that,” Kim said.  
“No, I do not,” Alix replied, sneering. “Unlike you guys, I don’t obsess over what happened.”

It was a lie, but they did not have to know that.

Kim's face morphed into a mask of anger.  
“Well, you’re lucky then,” he snapped, turning away.  
Alix laughed, an edge to her voice. “Lucky? I don’t dream because I don’t sleep. I stay up trying to piece together what happened to me because nobody even knows! Even if I did sleep, I probably wouldn’t have any dreams because I have no information to base the dreams off of, not even my own suppressed memories. So if you call that lucky then yes, I guess I am.”

The room was silent.

“We know exactly what happened,” Kim said after a while. Alix could not tell if he was angry or sympathetic. Perhaps both. “An evil person made you do evil things to good people. The rest is just… details.”  
“We all went through the exact same thing,” Alya agreed. “It doesn’t matter what powers Timebreaker had or who she targeted. That wasn’t you going through all that. What you’re going through is the repercussions of being possessed by a villain. And that’s something all of us here understand.”

Alix thought about that. She was no more Timebreaker than Alya had been Lady Wifi, or Kim had been Dark Cupid. They knew what happened to them when they were akumatized, but here they were, trying to forget and move past it. Maybe, just maybe, she _was_ lucky that she barely remembered the whole ordeal. 

She sat in thoughtful silence for the rest of the meeting, listening to the others talk and help each other sort through their emotions. They didn’t ask her any more questions, and she didn’t volunteer any more information. She’d shared enough for the day.

“Alix?”

Kim was waiting for her by the door at the end of the meeting. He looked almost… embarrassed?

“Sorry I kidnapped you. And yelled at you,” he told her. “It’s just that you kept saying you were fine, but… so did I, after Dark Cupid. And I wasn’t. But coming here helped me, so I just thought…”

Alix nodded, dumbfounded. First Kim was sharing his feelings, and now he was apologizing and looking after her? Since when was he this… nice? Was it because of the meetings?  
“No, it’s cool,” she said finally, smiling at him. “Thanks.”

Kim smiled back, then took off down the hall. Alix considered turning it into another race, but found herself taking a minute to find the flyer at the bottom of her backpack. If the meeting had helped Kim so much, why not her? And there was no way she would let Kim—immature, obnoxious Kim—be more well-adjusted than she was. That just would not do.

She pocketed the flyer again and started to walk home, genuinely smiling for the first time all week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all the positive feedback!  
> So I'm still just kind of making this up as I go along, but I've decided to mainly stick to the standard classmates. Hopefully this means I'll get to feature them all (so if there's any one specific you're looking forward to, let me know so I can make sure to feature them)  
> Come find me on Tumblr at wolfgirlfox

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic on AO3 so cut me some slack. I don't write much but the thought of these poor kids dealing with akuma aftermath on their own was just too horrible  
> Timeline is based off of tumblr user amour-chasse-croise's, since the episodes were not released in chronological order


End file.
